Satvik Sethi, Mastercard’s former Non-Fungible Token (NFT) product lead, resigned from his role on Thursday, choosing to make a statement by minting his resignation letter as an NFT. In a series of tweets, Sethi explained his decision to leave, citing a lack of support from the company and a desire to focus on Web3 and creating art full-time.
Sethi detailed the difficult and drawn-out process of his resignation, which he said was due to a series of mismanaged processes, miscommunication, and internal inefficiency. He also mentioned that he had experienced harassment and emotional distress during his time at Mastercard, and that he had to beg across the hierarchy for his salary on multiple occasions.
In response, Satvik Sethi decided to mint his resignation letter as an open-edition NFT through digital collectibles protocol Manifold, with 100% of the proceeds going to survival. Titled ‘New Beginnings’, the project is priced at 0.023 ETH (about $38) each, and 12 NFTs have already been minted.
In his letter to Mastercard leadership, Sethi expressed his passion for Web3 and his belief that now is the right time to fully immerse himself in this space. To that end, he will be devoting his attention to building his own Web3 social networking and community-building site, joincircle. Additionally, he plans to release different forms of art in the future.